When Alexander Spotswood wrote to the Board of Trade about the proposal he was putting before the House of Burgesses to raise an iron works for the mining, smelting, and processing of the iron, he described the iron as "newly discovered". On that point, he was in error. At the time of writing to the Board, he may have thought the iron ore was newly discovered, but he later says it was on the land of William Byrd; therefore, it had been known for a hundred years.
His use of the words "newly discovered" has misled historians into thinking that he, personally, had found iron ore. Willis Kemper, to be followed by Green and Scott, emphasizes the view that Spotswood found iron. This was the start of the confusion and misinformation between iron as a public venture and iron as a private venture.
What was the reaction of the Board of Trade to Spotswood's proposal that an iron works be raised in Virginia? Very negative. To understand what "very negative" could mean, one must examine some of the laws and practices in England with regards to trade with the colonies. One must also understand that no decision in Virginia was final until it was approved in England.
One of my favorite examples was the law passed in Virginia that no convicts were to be sent to Virginia as their sentence. A merchant in England protested that this would interfere with his contract with the English government to ship convicts to Virginia. The law was overturned in London.
The colonies existed for the purpose of furthering English trade. The colonies were to pass no law which interfered with English trade. The manufacturing and processing of raw materials were to be done in England. The colonies could send raw materials, but they were not to process the raw materials into finished goods. For example, the colonies could send wool to England, but there was to be no factory for making clothes in the colonies. The colonists were to buy their clothing from England.
The processors of iron in England were very jealous of their "god-given" rights to process iron. Even though the smelting of iron might be regarded as the production of a raw material, the manufacturers in England saw it as a challenge to their turf. Many products, such as cast iron, were produced directly at the furnace. Also, the next step of producing wrought iron (bar iron) was not far removed from this.
The Board of Trade told Spotswood that if any legislation with regard to an iron works was passed, it must contain a "suspension clause". The Virginia legislation must note that the operation could be stopped in its tracks by a directive from England. With iron works costing thousands of pounds sterling (which Spotswood did not have), and with a suspension clause, Spotswood had absolutely no interest in iron as a private venture in his early years. He even dropped the subject, in his first year, as a public endeavor.
(27 Oct 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.